Virat Kohli named Wisden's leading cricketer for second year in a row

Kohli, 29, was recognized for being the highest run-scorer in all formats in 2017, including three double hundreds in Tests.

Virat Kohli was the highest run-scorer across all formats in 2017AFP/Getty Images

India captain Virat Kohli has been named as Wisden's leading male cricketer for the second year in a row.

Kohli, 29, was recognized for being the highest run-scorer in all formats in 2017, including three double hundreds in Tests.

India women's captain Mithali Raj was named the leading female cricketer of the year after she became the leading run-scorer in the history of women's one-day internationals.

Three other women – England trio Heather Knight, Anya Shrubsole and Nat Sciver – rounded out Wisden's five cricketers of the year.

Under Kohli's leadership, India held on to number one ranking in Tests and ODIs but lost to Pakistan in the final of the showpiece 50-over event of 2017 – the Champions Trophy.

"For the second year in a row, Indian captain Virat Kohli is Wisden's leading cricketer in the world," Wisden editor Lawrence Booth said.

"In all formats in 2017, he scored 2,818 runs – more than 700 ahead of Joe Root in second place. Three of his five Test hundreds were doubles, and the other two unbeaten, and his 1,460 one-day international runs were unsurpassed."

The prestigious honor comes after Kohli was named overall cricketer of the year and ODI cricketer of the year at the ICC awards in January.

The India captain is the first to be recognized as Wisden's leading male cricketer in back-to-back years since Virender Sehwag managed the feat back in 2008-09.

Booth was also full of praise for Raj, who led the Indian women's team to the final of the 2017 World Cup.

"In the course of captaining her country to within a whisker of the World Cup title, she became the leading run-scorer in the history of women's one-day internationals, and completed her seventh successive half-century, another record," he said.

England women won the World Cup final against India by nine runs, with Knight, Sciver and Shrubsole recognized by Wisden for the part they played in the triumph.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan was the first ever to be named the leading Twenty20 cricketer in the world.